Human Society's Impact on Ecosystems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Society's Impact on Ecosystems - Essay Example Human society engages in various activities that negatively affect the ecosystem. These include overhunting, deforestation, creating pollution, overpopulation and non-native species introductions. Overhunting affects the animals’ targeted leading to in extreme cases, extinction. Indirectly, it affects the ecosystem of other species of animals or plants that may have been dependent on the threatened animal for food or as a way to keep their population in check. An example is a white rhino in Africa because of overhunting by poachers the species is nearly extinct (Morgan, 2012). Deforestation directly affects plant life and indirectly affects other forms of life. Human society needs wood for different purposes. However, the overexploitation of forests and woodlands is detrimental to the ecosystem. Apart from plant life being destroyed, habitats are also affected. According to Butler (2005), Nigeria has the world's utmost deforestation pace. The country of Brazil, on the other hand, loses the biggest area of forest annually, while the Congolese consume more bushmeat than any other humid country all due to human activity. Overpopulation puts undue stress on the ecosystem thus forcing human society to compete with other members for limited resources. Pollution of the ecosystem is another negative impact of humans on the ecosystem. Pollution kills plants and animals and at the same time destroys habitats. Humans also introduce non-native species to new habitats for their own purposes. An animal may be introduced to a new area where it did not exist before to hel p cut down on an existing pest problem. Soon the new animal begins to have its own impact on the new area, and often it results in problems for other native species. The same may happen in the case of plants (Morgan, 2012). Grim as it sounds so far, the human society has some positive effects on the ecosystem. Environmental management and preservation, global water management, pollution control and environmental awareness are some of the ways human society positively affects the ecosystem. Although some activities in the list are forced on by human beings, they all have a positive impact (Dinesen, 2012).

Corporate Social Responsibility and Mass Media Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility and Mass Media - Essay Example The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility (2006), Dunne said that corporate social responsibility has eventually come to mean â€Å"responsiveness†. â€Å"Responsiveness† does not imply any particular action but a range of actions or range of possible responses based on a company’s perception of social or consumer needs and the company’s role in responding either to society’s or the consumers’ needs. Carroll (1999, p. 268) explained that meaning of corporate social responsibility has undergone an evolution from its â€Å"beginning in the 1950s, which marks the modern era of CSR.† Carroll (1999, p. 268) pointed out that the â€Å"alternative themes† in corporate social responsibility â€Å"included corporate social performance (CSP), stakeholder theory, and business ethics theory.† Against the Dunne (2007) viewpoint, the Carroll (1999, p. 268) viewpoint is that corporate social responsibility is â€Å"a core construct that yields to or is transformed into alternative thematic frameworks.† On investigating whether corporate social responsibility adds to financial return, Cardebat & Sirven (2010) concluded that the results of their study do not provide evidence that the adoption of corporate social responsibility improves corporate financial performance. Cardebat & Sirven (2010) used statistical and econometric methods in testing hypotheses on the role of corporate social responsibility on company financial performance. On the other hand, the work of Ali et al. (2010) indicated that the practice of social responsibility may or may not promote the retention of consumer. Based on the study, it can nevertheless be argued however that the practice of corporate social responsibility can promote the retention of the customer base. In my study, I have chosen two cases: the case of the Aviva plc and the case of Thames Water Company. For reasons that will be explained later, Aviva appears to be a lead ing example of a company based in the United Kingdom that espouse corporate social responsibility consistently and diligently for the last several years and has gained additional prominence for the espousal as well as practice of that responsibility. Aviva claims to have â€Å"300 years of insights† which can be interpreted as having 300 years of engagement in the same or similar business (2011). Alternatively, the company â€Å"300 years of insights† is also described as â€Å"300 years of heritage† (2011). In contrast, Thames Water, a water company appears to have experienced a period in which its public image was at its worst. Lately, however, data are suggesting that Thames Water has invested in corporate social responsibility and may be profiting today in the said investment. Nevertheless, it appears that there are still avenues through which Thames Water’s practice of corporate social responsibility can be improved and which the company can exploit for greater profitability. II. Case 1: Aviva plc Aviva claims to the â€Å"world’s sixth largest insurance group and the biggest in the UK, with 36,100 serving around 44.5 million

Land Vegetation Ethiopia

Land Vegetation Ethiopia 1. Project Summary Land cover/use Study projects provide policy makers, industry and community interest groups, and landholders with accurate information on  woody vegetation cover, information on changes in the cover, mapping and providing statistical information. In earlier times the northern Ethiopian highlands were characterized by humid climate and denser vegetation (Bard et al., 2000). Significant human impact on the land resource resulted in 65 per cent of the total land mass to be a dry land. Land clearing for agricultural activity has become an increasingly main topic in the natural resource debate that contrasts the economic aspects of land development to the people dependent on it and with the ecological need to conserve. This project is a one of the initiative to investigate the land cover and its respective slope of the study site and to recommend technologies applicable to the overall land cover study projects in the dry high lands of Ethiopia. The study combines field verification  and computer processing using state-of-the-art remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The study specifically applies and eexplore the potential of Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer ASTER images to discriminate land use categories where the land is fragile with mixed uses villages, patches of forest, patches of grazing land, crop land, wasteland, etc. the study will also explore the potential of ASTER images to provide stereo images for DEM generation of the scene that can be used to generate the Slope. The DEM generation task will investigate developing a rational polynomial function model. At last integration of the land cover and the DEM together with other GIS data can be used as input data to classify the suitability of land for specific land use. 2. The Problem Statement and Justification for the Research More than 63% of all smallholders in Ethiopia have less than 1 hectare of land. Population is growing rapidly and, although in the northern parts of the country the average rural population density is only 33 persons per square km, the population density per unit of arable land is much higher (138 persons per square km). Land fragmentation is common and the more fragmented holdings are, the more time it takes to manage them, with potential consequences for productivity. The national average is 3.2 parcels per smallholder, though districts averages vary from a little over 1 to more than 5. The broadest areas of high fragmentation are in eastern Amhara and Tigray, although there are also districts with high average fragmentation in Gambella, parts of SNNP, and the eastern highlands. (Ethiopian Agricultural Sample Enumeration, 2001/02. Central Statistical Authority.). As a result of fragmentation, farm sizes are very small and the use of fallow is rapidly disappearing, causing problems of declining soil fertility and erosion. Population growth increases the demand for land and contributes to farming on steep and fragile soils, also leading to erosion problems. It increases demand for biomass as a source of fuel, leading to deforestation and increased burning of dung and crop residues, thus increasing the problems of erosion and nutrient depletion. Population growth increases demand for livestock products and therefore leads to increased livestock numbers, causing overgrazing and consumption of crop residues by animals. In such situation Land degradation is a great threat for the future and it requires great effort and resources to improve. The major causes of land degradation in Ethiopia are the rapid population increase, severe soil loss, deforestation, low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop and livestock production. Inappropriate land-use systems and land-tenure policies enhance desertification and loss of biodiversity. The balance between crop, livestock, and forest production is disturbed, and the farmer is forced to put more land into crop production. The government has envisaged long- and short-term strategies to reduce the pressure on land and land fragmentation. Among the short term strategies are providing technical and vocational training to the landless youth to enable them to find off-farm employment and encouraging emigration to urban centers and to other parts of the region for resettlement. These strategies recommended allocation and reallocation of land to be based on the land use classification to be done in detail study. Understanding the current status of land use is very important and this project will come up with important elements of current land use study using remote sensing technologies to provide reliable information that help to prepare a complete land use plan. Justification Land Cover/ Slope Study To approach the growing problems of natural resource management, spatially explicit information about physical, biotic, and human factors must be available in a variety of geographic and temporal scales (USFWS 1976). Local planners and managers require detailed knowledge of the region for which they have responsibility as well as information on the regional, state, and national levels. Land cover data are essential at several scales. Current land cover data are vital to many applications including: making basic habitat assessments, delineating specific vegetative communities, calculating soil loss, and evaluating water quantity/quality within and between watersheds. The list of categories to be mapped is determined through the objectives of the mapping effort. This thesis describes such a mapping effort, one of presenting a basic land cover/Slope map, along with methods useful for land use planning applications. The conventional methods in producing DEMs need large campaigns that result in land surveying teams using analogue or analytical techniques. In the last decades satellite stereo image based topographical map production is turned into operational state from its experimental state. Recently many local scale landscape or topographical monitoring requirements are maintained by high resolution satellite images (Kanab 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004). Advantages of ASTER for land evaluation The ASTER sensor is carried on board the Terra satellite that was launched in December 1999. The sensor has 14 spectral bands; three for Very Near Infra Red (VNIR) at 15 meters resolution, six for Short Wave Infra Red at 30 meters resolution, five for Thermal Infra Red at ninety meters resolution. Graphic 1 (below) shows the band coverage of the ASTER sensor. Thus with such resolution and number of bands it is possible to discriminate small fragile lands typical of Ethiopian highlands. In addition ASTER imagery has an extra channel of image data that is created by the sensor capturing a backwards looking image for the third VNIR band. So for image band three there exists one (nadir) image channel and also a backwards looking (off nadir) image channel. This creates an along-track stereo effect that provides DEM generation capability to be used for slope study. Scope This thesis presents a small watershed land cover/Slope map representing for the northern region of the country. It will provide information just beyond the local watershed by demonstrating feasibility of using selected satellite imagery for regional planning as well. It is known that Land suitability analysis is the process of matching demand, crop requirement, and supply, the quality of the land. Where it is necessary to specify the type of specific land use (e.g for forest plantation, maize, rangeland, etc.) so as to match with crop requirement, basic land characteristics, such as depth of soil, climate, amount of pH, level of soil nutrient, depth to ground water, etc.. Thus the scope of this thesis is limited to generating parameters necessary for the land suitability analysis. Project Objectives General objective To demonstrate the feasibility of Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery to provide base line data for land use planning for sustainable land management Specific objectives Investigating discriminating power of ASTER Imagery in studying land cover in highly fragmented high lands of northern Ethiopia. To develop rational polynomial function model to generate a DEM that will be further processed to develop slope information. 4. Description of Project Activities and Methodology Selecting Study Area The landscape of Ethiopia is extremely diverse. In order to map land cover on a regional scale, it is necessary to understand the structure and dynamics of land cover on a local scale. To this end, the study area will be located to approximately represent throughout the northern part of the region. Thus the site will include major physiographic regions, i.e., predominantly mountains, valleys, and plains. On top of that the study site will be chosen on the following criteria: ease of access to allow comparison of actual land cover to images in hand, availability of current digital cover maps, and representation of regional land cover. Classification Scheme The first step in land cover mapping is to determine a classification system, i.e., to list the land categories to be mapped. Several items will be considered in this process: The objectives The characteristics of the data And the accuracy requirements. As in most well planned mapping efforts, the objectives determine the classes and the procedures used. Since the objective of this study is to identify fragmented land use types rather than classifying different vegetation types, emphasis will be placed on land impacted by human activities. The data available also determined the level of detail. ASTER imagery is assumed to be the best data currently available. The relatively high spatial resolution and the number of spectral bands of this imagery offers the best opportunities for discriminating a variety of cover types among any available satellite data such as Landsat. Imagery ASTER imagery with 15m spatial resolution, which is taken in the dry season of 2003, is the basic dataset from which land cover and Slope will be mapped. The data to be used for land cover study will be the VNIR bands (Band 1: 0.52-0.60 Lm; Band 2: 0.63-0.69Lm and Band 3N: 0.76-0.86Lm) of and 3N and 3B bands for the Slope study. A DEM created from ASTER level 1A (L1A) imagery can be expected to have a vertical accuracy of approximately 25 meters. Although in areas with less vegetation or man made features, this can rise to approximately 11 meters. It is therefore useful for small to medium scale mapping applications, 1:50,000 to 1:100,000. Only the near-infrared (NIR) channel of ASTER image has stereoscopic view capability as another NIR sensor is located as back view on board Terra satellite. Therefore, one NIR sensor collects image in nadir direction while another NIR sensor gets image in back-looking direction. Using two different looking directions, stereo imaging and DEM generation can be attained (Welch et al. 1998, Toutin 2002, Hirano et al. 2003). Training Data for image classification Since this study applies supervised classification, training data are needed at the start of classification. To this effect training data will be acquired from a variety of sources such as available maps, aerial photography of the same year and expert knowledge and review. Image Classification One scene for the land cover study and another nadir scene for the Slope study will be used for classification. To georeference the image, Ground Control Points (GCPs) will be collected from easily identifiable points using Geographic Positioning System (GPS). Image classification will be done either using pixel based supervised image classification or with object-oriented image classification depending on the accuracy to be achieved. ILWIS 3.3 software format will be the major image processing tools that will be used. Ground Truth and Classification Accuracy Assessment Before a map should be used, it is necessary to know its accuracy (Congalton1996). Accuracy assessment will be made using ground truth points to be collected from the major land use/cover types using GPS. It is recommended to have a ground truth at the same time of data acquisition, or at least within the time that the environmental condition does not change. A general rule of thumb is 75 to 100 reference points per category for a large image (Congalton 1996). However; for such a small scale study quite less number of reference points will be feasible. Statistics The Confusion Matrix In order to determine the errors in the classification, the following model called confusion matrix: (IDRISI module CONFUSE.) will be applied where: Matrix columns = ground data (assumed ‘correct) Matrix rows = map data (classified by the automatic procedure) Cells of the matrix = count of the number of observations for each (ground, map) combination Diagonal elements = agreement between ground and map; ideal is a matrix with all zero off-diagonals Errors of omission (map producers accuracy) = incorrect in column / total in column. Measures how well the map maker was able to represent the ground features. Errors of commission (map users accuracy) = incorrect in row / total in row. Measures how likely the map user is to encounter correct information while using the map. Overall map accuracy = total on diagonal / grand total Statistical test of the classification accuracy for the whole map or individual cells is possible using the kappa index of agreement www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm). Users and producers accuracy measure the correctness of each category with respect to errors of commission and omission. Accuracy of each class cannot be completely stated in one statistic; both accuracies are needed for a valid assessment. Users accuracy is obtained by dividing the number correctly classified by the total number of pixels, within the classified image, of that class assessed. A low users accuracy represents a high error of commission. Producers accuracy is calculated by dividing the number of pixels correctly classified by the total number of reference points within that class (bottom row of error matrix). A low Producers accuracy represents a high error of omission. The Kappa statistic describes the degree of superiority (expressed as a proportion), that the classification results have as compared to a random classification. DEM Generation Developments in computers, broadening of visualization applications and the availability of geospatial data, made the use of digital elevation models (DEM) an indispensable quantitative environmental variable in most of the research topics. The landscape change and process-based studies in digital Earth sciences require the excessive use of DEM (Ka ¨a ¨b 2002, Zomer et al. 2002, Baily et al. 2003, Su ¨zen and Doyuran 2004a, b, Liu et al. 2004), for landslide susceptibility/hazard assessment, erosion susceptibility, glacier monitoring, geomorphological mapping, etc., in order to quantitatively represent or to analyse the morphology or the landscape. Within this study, the major steps that will be performed are (1) pre-processing and (2) The first step in pre-processing is the orthorectification of raw L1A images. The whole scene ASTER L1A image will be orthorectified using available 1: 50,000 scaled topographic maps. DEM generation from stereoscopic imagery is dependent on establishing the mathematical model relating the scene coordinates of conjugate points to the ground coordinates of the corresponding object point. Either rigorous or approximate models can be used to establish such a relationship. Rigorous modeling necessitates a full understanding of the imaging geometry associated with the involved sensor. Moreover, it involves the external characteristics (as represented by the Exterior Orientation Parameters EOP) and the internal characteristics (as represented by the Interior Orientation Parameters IOP) of the imaging sensor. Such characteristics are derived with the help of control information, which might take the form of a calibration test field, ground control points, and/or onboard navigation units (e.g., GPS/INS). However, the derivation of these parameters might not be always possible due to: the lack of sufficient control; weak imaging geometry (especially for satellite imaging systems with narrow angular field of view); and/or intentional concealment by the data provider (e.g., Space Imaging does not release the IOP and the EOP for their commercially available imagery). Therefore, there has been an increasing interest to investigate approximate models, which do not explicitly involve the internal and external characteristics of the imaging system. (A. Habib, E. M. Kim, M. Morgan, I. Couloigne, 2005). There has been an increasing interest within the photogrammetric community to adopt approximate models since they require neither a comprehensive understanding of the imaging geometry nor the internal and external characteristics of the imaging sensor. Approximate models include Direct Linear Transformation (DLT), self-calibrating DLT (SDLT), Rational Function Model (RFM), and parallel projection (Vozikis et al., 2003; Fraser, 2000; OGC, 1999; Ono et al., 1999; Wang, 1999; Gupta et al., 1997; El-Manadili and Novak, 1996). This thesis will apply RPF; it is based on the ratios of polynomials with different degree which can vary from 1 to 3. The coefficients are estimated using a large number of Ground Control Points (GCPs). In general, the procedure for DEM generation from stereoscopic views can be summarized as follows (Shin et al., 2003): †¢ Feature selection in one of the scenes of a stereo-pair: Selected features should correspond to an interesting phenomenon in the scene and/or the object space. †¢ Identification of the conjugate feature in the other scene: This problem is known as the matching/correspondence problem within the photogrammetric and computer vision communities. †¢ Intersection procedure: Matched points in the stereo-scenes undergo an intersection procedure to produce the ground coordinates of corresponding object points. The intersection process involves the mathematical model relating the scene and ground coordinates. †¢ Point densification: High density elevation data is generated within the area under consideration through an interpolation in-between the derived points in the previous step. The image orientation with rational polynomial functions involves general transformation to describe the relationship between image and ground coordinates. They provide a generic representation of the camera object-image geometry. The RPF provided with the high resolution satellite images connect image space and object space by: Row or column = rpf (ÃŽ », Ï•, h) Where row/column is the image coordinates and ÃŽ », Ï•, and h are longitude, latitude and ellipsoidal height in geographic coordinates of WGS84 datum (Grodecki et al., 2004). Direct solutions use rational function coefficients and sensor parameters information without any control points and refinement the original coefficients. Indirect solutions use ground control points for computing coefficients without using sensor parameters (Tao, Hu 2001). Our solution is based on ground control points without any initial values of coefficients. First approximate values of parameters extract and then precise values compute with using ground control points. Rational Function Model with 20 parameters (Valadan, Sadeghiam 2002) is used in this paper as follow: Where : are the normalized row and column of pixel in image. : are the normalized coordinates of the image point in the Conventional Terrestrial (CT) coordinate system. : Rational Function Coefficients (RFCs). Estimating the RFM coefficients The method by which the RFM coefficients are recovered depends on the availability of a physical sensor model. In cases where a physical model is provided a terrain independent scheme can be applied. This scheme is based on the generation of a 3D grid in object space, using the physical sensor model. The 3D grid should contain several layers of points and its characteristics are determined by the coverage of the image and the terrain relief differences. Then, a Least Squares solution of the RFM coefficients can be derived. Finally, an estimation of the quality of the derived RFM coefficients should be carried out based on an evaluation of the residuals in a higher density 3D grid. When a physical model is not available, a terrain dependent scheme is used. As in this scheme it is not possible to generate a 3D grid, the solution is highly sensitive to the terrain relief, as well as to the distribution, number, and quality of the GCPs used. Generation The generation process involves four steps: primitive extraction, primitive matching, space intersection, and interpolation. Primitive extraction: At this stage, a decision has to be made regarding the primitives to be matched in the normalized scenes. Possible matching primitives include distinct points, linear features, and/or homogeneous regions. The choice of the matching primitives is crucial for ensuring the utmost reliability of the outcome from the DEM generation process. In this research, point features are chosen. Fà ¶rstner interest operator (Fà ¶rstner, 1986) will be used to extract distinct points from the imagery. The operator identifies points with unique grey value distribution at their vicinity (e.g., corner points).The next section discusses the matching procedure of these points. Primitive Matching: The matching criteria deal with establishing a quantitative measure that describes the degree of similarity between a template in the left scene and a matching window, of the same size, within the search space in the right scene. Either correlation coefficient or least squares matching could be used to derive such a similarity measure Space Intersection: Following the matching process, conjugate points undergo an intersection procedure to derive the ground coordinates of the corresponding object points. The RPF equation will be used for such computation. Interpolation: So far, the ground coordinates of matched interest points, which passed the consistency check, are derived through space intersection. These points are irregularly distributed and are not dense enough to represent the object space. Therefore, they need to be interpolated. In this research, Kriging will be used to interpolate the resulting object space points into regular grid. The Kriging methodology derives an estimate of the elevation at a given point as a weighted average of the heights at neighboring points. 5. Project Milestones and Expected outputs 5.1. Expected output Following are the expected outputs from this research; Based on the success of ASTER imagery in demonstrating land cover classification and slope generation, the result herein may be used as basic data to assist slope management, land use planning, and other land management efforts such as land suitability, and landslide susceptibility mapping when combined with other GIS data. Provides a procedure based on the rational polynomial function model for generating DEM directly from a stereo ASTER images, and other experimental results. In particular, the method can be quickly and easily applied to areas with little map data, and at low cost. Based on the success it can be extended for all the northern high lands of Ethiopia. 5.2. Dissemination plan The immediate users of the research result are policy makers, teaching institutes and other planning and development organization in their programming of land use management. It will also assist the local government in the design and making of policy issues. The small holder farmers are the ultimate users of the research results through well designed land management projects that are effective in ensuring sustainable development of the resources they are dependent on. 6. Work Plan 7. References Fraser, C. S., H. B. Hanley (2003). Bias compensation in rational functions for Ikonos satellite imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 53-57. Ganas, A. E. Lagios, N. Tzannetos (2002). An investigation into the spatial accuracy of the Ikonos2 orthoimagery within an urban environment. Int. Journal of Remote Sensing, 23(17): 3513-3519. Grodecki, J. and G. Dial (2003). Block adjustment of high resolution satellite images described by rational polynomials. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 69(1): 59-68. Hu, Y., C.V., Tao (2002). Updating solutions of the rational function model using additional control information. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 68(7): 715-724. MARCAL, A.R.S., BORGER, J.S., BOMES, J.A. COSTA, P.J.F. (2005) Land cover update by supervised classification of segmented ASTER images. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26, 1347-1362. www.sc.chula.ac.th/courseware/2309507/lec_content.htm YAN, G., MAS, J.F., MAATHUIS, B.H.P., XIANGMIN, Z., VAN DIJK, P.M. (2006) Comparison of pixel-based and object-oriented image classification approaches—a case study in a coal fire area, Wuda, Inner Mongolia, China. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27, 4039-4055.

The Killer Angels :: essays research papers

The novel starts out when Harrison, a Confederate spy, reports to James Longstreet that 80,000 to 100,000 Union soldiers have marched within 200 miles of Lee's position near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Harrison also bears news of a change in Union leadership. Major General George Meade had replaced "Fighting Joe" Hooker as commander of the Union Army. Lee sees this change as an opportunity to strike while the new commander gets his bearings. He decides to concentrate on Gettysburg, the small town where several roads in the area converge, where he intends to cut the Union army off from Washington, D.C. First shots are fired at dawn as Rebels attack Buford's dismounted cavalry. Later that day Lee orders Ewell to take control of Cemetery Hill. Ewell did not follow orders and the union gained control of the Hill instead. Late in the afternoon, on the second day, Colonel Chamberlain's 20th Maine regiment is moved into the woods. Colonel Vincent orders Chamberlain not to withdraw from his new position at the left flank of the Union line. The Confederates engage with the Union troops and Chamberlain’s 20th Maine time and time again. Finally when ammunition is low Chamberlain gives the order to â€Å"fix bayonets,† and charges down the hill driving the rebels back. That same day Lee orders Longstreet to attack the Union center, and Longstreet advises against it. â€Å"They will break," Lee insists. He directed Longstreet to take three divisions. Longstreet passes the order along to his generals Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble. Pickett and other commanders lose mos t of their men in the battle. As the survivors pull back, Lee finally admits his error to Longstreet, who gives his order to retreat. The two personalities that stand out the most in my mind are Robert E. Lee and Joshua Chamberlain. Lee and Chamberlain share many similarities. They are idealistic, optimistic, and have faith and pride in their men. Both care about their men, yet do not hesitate to use them, including Chamberlain’s own brother, for the sake of the cause. The men under Lee and Chamberlain show them a great deal of respect. Chamberlain is somewhat of a father figure to his men, as is Lee to James Longstreet. Joshua Chamberlain is an unusual man, formerly a college professor, and views the war and the men around him more as a philosopher then a military man. On his march toward Gettysburg he sees a row of dead confederates from a previous battle, and wonders whether the town’s people will give them a decent burial or leave them for the buzzards.

Education in the Philippines Essay

The system of education in the Philippines was patterned both from the educational systems of Spain and the United States. However, after the liberation of the Philippines in 1946, the systems have changed radically. The Department of Education (or DepEd) administers the whole educational system, which also includes the allocation of funds utilized for school services and equipment (such as books, school chairs, etc.), recruitment of teachers for all public schools in the Philippines, and the supervision and organization of the school curricula. The former education system of the Philippines is composed of 6 years of elementary education starting at the age of 6 or 7, and 4 years of high school education starting at the age of 12 or 13. In this system, education is not compulsory. However, since June 4, 2012, DepEd started to implement the new K-12 educational system,[3] which includes the new curricula for all schools (see the section). In this system, education is now compulsory. All public and private schools in the Philippines must start classes from a date mandated by the Department of Education (usually every first Monday of June for public schools only), and must end after each school completes the mandated 200-day school calendar of DepEd (usually around the third week of March to the second week of April). The implementation of the K-12 program is â€Å"phased†. The first phase of the implementation will start on SY 2012-2013. During this school year, universal kindergarten will be finally offered, and will now be a part of the compulsory education system; and a new curriculum for Grade 1 and Grade 7 students would be introduced. By SY 2016-2017, Grade 11/Year 5 will be introduced, and Grade 12/Year 6 by SY 2017-2018; with the phased implementation of the new curriculum finished by the SY 2017-2018. Students in 2nd year to 4th year high school this SY 2012-2013 are not included in the program. It is only applicable to students from Kinder to 1st year high school which is now called Grade 7. However, during the new educational cycle, from 2016 to 2018, college enrollment could slow down because of the entrance of the lower-year students to the new educational system. Primary Education Elementary school, sometimes called primary school or grade school (Filipino: paaralang elementarya, sometimes mababang paaralan), is the first part of the educational system, and it includes the first six years of compulsory education (grades 1-6). These grades are further grouped (informally) accordingly into: primary level, which includes the first three grades (grades 1-3), and intermediate level, which includes the last three grades (grades 4-6). The elementary school education covers a smaller but wider than the junior and senior high school because of the spiral approach educational technique. In public schools, the core/major subjects that are introduced starting grade 1 include mathematics, Filipino, and Makabayan (until grade 3, this subject is synonymous to social studies, but also incorporate values education and the fundamentals of political science). English is only introduced after the 2nd semester of grade 1. Science is only introduced starting grade 3. Heograpiya (geography), kasaysayan (history), and sibika (civics) (abbreviated as HEKASI), is only introduced starting grade 4 (similar also to social studies but focuses more on the subjects earlier stated). Minor subjects then include music, arts, physical education, and health (abbreviated as MAPEH). In private schools, subjects in public schools also include those of the public schools, with the additional subjects including: computer education and HELE (stands for home economics and livelihood education; while in Christian schools or in Catholic schools, religious education. International schools also have their own subjects in their own language and culture. From grades 1-3, students will be taught using their mother tongue, meaning the regional languages of the Philippines (also called as dialects) will be used in some subjects (except Filipino and English) as a medium of instruction. It may be incorporated as a separate subject. But from grade 4, Filipino and English as a medium of instruction will then be used. On December 2007, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that Spanish is to make a return as a mandatory subject in all Filipino schools starting in 2008 but it didn’t come into effect. DECS Bilingual Policy is for the medium of instruction to be Filipino for: Filipino, Araling Panlipunan, Edukasyong Pangkatawan, Kalusugan at Musika; and English for: English, Science and Technology, Home Economics and Livelihood Education. Article XIV, Section 7 of the 1987 Philippine constitution mandates that regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. As a result, the language actually used in teaching is often a polyglot of Filipino and English with the regional language as the foundation, or rarely the local language. Filipino is based on Tagalog, so in Tagalog areas (including Manila), Filipino is the foundational language used. Philippine regional languages are used in the provinces in the teaching of Makabayan. International English language schools use English as the foundational language. Chinese schools add two language subjects, such as Min Nan Chinese and Mandarin Chinese and may use English or Chinese as the foundational language. The constitution mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. Following on this, a few private schools mainly catering to the elite include Spanish in their curriculum. Arabic is taught in Islamic schools. Until 2004, primary students traditionally sat for the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). It was intended as a measure of a school’s competence, and not as a predictor of student aptitude or success in Secondary school. Hence, the scores obtained by students in the NEAT were not used as a basis for their admission into Secondary school. During 2004, when DECS was officially converted into the Department of Education (DepEd), and also, as a result of some reorganization, the NEAT was changed to National Achievement Test (NAT) by the Department of Education (DepEd). Both the public and private elementary schools take this exam to measure a school’s competency. As of 2006, only private schools have entrance examinations for Secondary school. The DepEd expects over 13.1 million elementary students to be enrolled in public elementary schools for school year 2009–2010. Though elementary schooling is compulsory, latest official figures show 27.82% of Filipino elementary-aged children either never attend or never complete elementary schooling, usually due to the absence of any school in their area, education being offered in a language that is foreign to them, or financial distress. In July 2009 DepEd acted to overcome the foreign language problem by ordering all elementary schools to move towards mother-tongue based learning initially. The order allows two alternative three-year bridging plans. Depending on the bridging plan adopted, the Filipino and English languages are to be phased in as the language of instruction for other subjects beginning in the third and fourth grades. Secondary education PSHS Main Campus. Note the disparity between rural and urban education facilities in the Philippines. Secondary school in the Philippines, more commonly known as â€Å"high school† (Filipino: paaralang sekundarya, sometimes mataas na paaralan), consists of four levels largely based on the American schooling system as it was until the advent of the comprehensive high schools in the US in the middle of last century. The Philippine high school system has not moved much from where it was when the Philippines achieved independence from the US in 1946. It still consists of only four levels with each level partially compartmentalized, focusing on a particular theme or content. DepEd specifies a compulsory curriculum for all high schooling, public and private. The first year of high school has five core subjects, Algebra I, Integrated Science, English I, Filipino I, and Philippine History I. Second year has Algebra II, Biology, English II, Filipino II, and Asian History. Third year has Geometry, Trigonometry, Chemistry, Filipino III, and World History and Geography. Fourth year has Calculus, Advanced Algebra, Physics, Filipino IV, Literature, and Economics. Minor subjects may include Health, Music, Arts, Technology and Home Economics, and Physical Education. In selective schools, various languages may be offered as electives, as well as other subjects such as computer programming and literary writing. Chinese schools have language and cultural electives. Preparatory schools usually add some business and accountancy courses, while science high schools have biology, chemistry, and physics at every level. Secondary students used to sit for the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT), which was based on the American SAT, and was administered by DepEd. Like its primary school counterpart, NSAT was phased-out after major reorganizations in the education department. Now the National Achievement Test is administered to second year students. Higher education institutions, both public and private, administer their own College Entrance Examinations (CEE). Vocational colleges usually do not have entrance examinations, simply accepting the Form 138 record of studies from high school, and enrolment payment. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Philippines

Jane Austen’s Novels Plot-Construction

In contrast to the simplicity of her style, Jane Austen's plots are unexpectedly complex. She is not content to simply draw two or three characters in isolation. She prefers a family, with their many friends and acquaintances and she tries within her limited range to make things as difficult as possible. SETTINGS OF HER NOVELS Jane Austen's field of study is man. She is, therefore, more preoccupied with human nature than nature in the nineteenth century usage of the word. The background and the scenery of the provincial town is rich in its beauty and grandeur. But there is no attempt to look into the spirit of this country. Thus although, she has some sense of locality yet she does not paint an English community like the other writers of her time. She rather avoids those very elements of the population in which the local flavour, the breath of the soil is most pronounced. She is further incapable of evoking a scene or a landscape and cannot conjure up the spirit of Bath as Emile Bronte could conjure up the spirit of the Moorlands or Hardy that of Wessex. All this, one may say, would be fatal to her dramatic quality of construction. In all her novels, we see only a limited range of human society. Most of her characters are the kind of people she knew intimately, the landed gentry, the upper class, the lower edge of the nobility, the lower clergy, the officer corps of the military. Her novels exclude the lower classes-both the industrial masses of the big cities and the agricultural labourers in the countryside. Three or four families in the country village is the very thing to work on. She does not show any of the great agonies or darker side of human experience. There is no hunger, poverty, misery or terrible vices and very little of the spiritual sphere of experience. Nor do we see any political dimension or even discussions regarding major political happenings in any of her novels. Nature too, is rarely described and her characters are usually presented indoors with an occasional expedition or picnic thrown in. According to Andrew H. Wright, the novels of Jane Austen can be considered on three levels of meaning: first, the purely local-illustrative of country life among the upper middle-classes at the end of eighteenth century in Southern England. Second, they can be taken as broad allegories in which Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and a number of other virtues and defects are set forth in narrative form and commented on in this way. Third is the ironic level whereby the incidents, situations and characters in a novel imply something more than what they seem. PLOT-CONSTRUCTION IN SENSE AND SENSIBILITY It is one of Austen's simplest novels. The story deals with two sisters Elinor -the heroine represents a woman of sense, while Marianne, her foolish foil represents a woman of sensibility. The first volume of the book has a symmetrical pattern and a clear parallel is drawn between the two romances-Edward Ferrars and Elinor, John Willoughby and Marianne. True to Elinor's cool, sensible nature the relationship between Edward Farrar's is conducted on the level of the mind, with both displaying hardly an emotion. The theme of sense is thus exemplified through their relationship. On the other hand Willoughby who enters Marianne's life as a true romantic hero having carried her home when she sprained her ankle, exemplifies the theme of sensibility in his relationship with Marianne. While the moral seems to illustrate the superiority of sense over sensibility there is an ironic twist in the plot whereby Elinor and Marianne virtually interchange their positions PLOT-CONSTRUCTION IN EMMA The plot of Emma can be said to have an ‘inward' and an ‘outward' movement. The inward deal with Emma's self-deception- with what she thinks is happening while the outward deals with what actually is happening and this brings to light her mistakes. It is through a series of humiliations and self reproach that Emma finally awakens to self-knowledge. The reader's enjoyment stems from an awareness that Emma is wrong. From chapter 1 to 15, Emma thinks that Mr. Elton is in love with Harriet only to discover to her horror that Elton loves her. From chapter 18 to 30, Emma thinks herself to be in love with Frank and Jane Fairfax to be associated with Mr. Dixon. From chapter 31 to 46, Emma is convinced that Harriet and Frank Churchill are interested in one another. Towards the end of the novel, from chapter 46, Emma's theories about Frank and Harriet are about Jane Faifax and Dixon are destroyed and she has to face the possibility of Mr. Knightley being in love with Harriet. It is only after Knightley's proposals in the shrubbery that â€Å"what is happening† and â€Å"what Emma thinks is happening† converge and Emma's progress from self-delusion to knowledge is complete. By analyzing the plots of ‘Sense and Sensibility', ‘Emma' and ‘Pride and Prejudice', we observe that Austen's theme-her subject matter revolves round courtship and marriage in each of her novels. By the time we have reached the end of any of her novels, not only the hero and heroine but most of the other people in the story have succeeded in pairing off in marriage. And it is from the courtship of the hero and heroine that the story derives much of their tension. PLOT-CONSTRUCTION IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE The main plot of Pride and Prejudice presents the story of the misunderstanding, estrangement and union in the lives of two people-Elizabeth and Darcy. The novel begins with the flutter and eager expectation in the Bennet family at the arrival of the young â€Å"single man of large fortune†, Mr. Charles Bingley. The sub-plot of the Jane-Bingley relationship attracts greater interest for some time. They meet at a ball, are attracted towards each other and their intimacy grows through dinner-parties, balls, etc. All this while, however, the events of the main plot also gather interest. Darcy and Elizabeth are present at the same ball. Darcy is looked at with great admiration for about half the evening and is soon ‘discovered to be proud', and when Bingley persuades him to dance with Elizabeth, he says that she is ‘tolerable' but not handsome enough to tempt him. Elizabeth developed ‘no very cordial feelings towards him'. This prejudice forms in the very first m eeting and is intensified by various other factors. Miss Caroline Bingley's designs on Darcy and her efforts to reprobate Elizabeth during her stay at Netherfield are so persistent that inspite of his being attracted by Elizabeth's pair of fine eyes, he realizes that it is dangerous to pay too much attention to Elizabeth and observes a studied reticence. Mrs. Bennet's silly remarks, Mary's all too quick consent to sing at a party, Mr. Collin's sycophancy, Mr. Bennet's want of propriety and Lydia's shallowness—infact everything that the Bennet family did is enough to alienate anybody and Darcy's poor opinion of the whole set urges him to avoid closer connections with Elizabeth. When Elizabeth meets Wickham, his winning manners grow on her good-will, and the altogether false reports of his victimization by Darcy intensify her prejudice far too much. Later, when she naturally suspects that Darcy plays a prominent part in ruining the prospects of her sister's marriage with Bingley, she feels an almost irrevocably strong prejudice a gainst him. From chapter 3 to 33, the prejudice grows in better strength and so when Darcy proposes to her, she bluntly rejects him. In reply to his enquiry about why she refused, she lays the charges at his door without any apology. The first stage in the history of their relationship is convincingly developed. Chapters 35 and 36 mark the climax in this development. Darcy's letter to her marks the beginning of the second stage. Every event occurring subsequent to this helps to reverse Elizabeth's conception of him, undo all the knots of prejudice and reveal the sterling qualities that he possesses. Even at the end of the first stage, his repulsive pride completely dominates all his thought and action, but the citadel staggers at the first rude shock Elizabeth gives him. ‘She showed him how insufficient were all his pretentions to please a woman worthy of being pleased', and even though he was angry at first, he soon realized that the lesson she taught was ‘hard indeed at first but most advantageous'. When they met most unexpectedly at Pemberley, he ‘showed her by every civility in his power that he hoped to obtain her forgiveness and lessen her ill opinion, ‘Darcy's excessive pride is dec reased and Elizabeth becomes proportionately less prejudiced. Many events in the second stage quicken this cleansing process. Even in the offending remarks about her family there is an admission that Elizabeth could inspire in Darcy a strong feeling of love capable of overcoming his strong scruple of family pride; and her vanity is touched. Darcy's narration in the letter makes it clear to her that if he found Jane's behavior ‘without any symptom of peculiar regard for Bingley', it was a pardonable, even justifiable, error of judgment and the motives were certainly unchallengeable. The baselessness of her violent charge of ruining Wickham's career becomes all clear to her. Colonel Fitzwilliam's report about him is also creditable to Darcy. All these events make her conscious that she had acted despicably and that her certainty about her discernment was most unjustifiable. Her visit to Pemberley brings another surprise. His housekeeper, Mrs. Reynold's, is genuinely proud of Darcy, who is ‘the best landlord and the best master', ‘affable to the poor', ‘an entirely good brother': and she is sure to know better. Darcy's unexpected meeting at Pemberley is still more effective: he impresses her aunt and uncle by his excellent manners, and Elizabeth has to admit that her prejudice was ill founded. Finally, Darcy's most invaluable help in the eprisode of Lydia's elopement with Wickham sweeps off all her objections. And so when Darcy's second, and most polite proposal is made, her attitude has changed as much as his. The first minor eprisode is the Jane-Bingley relationship. It can be treated as an independent event, but Jane Austen has woven it well with the main theme. Jane and Elizabeth are sisters who share each other's secrets, hopes and fears and it is the simplest connection. But on the strength of Darcy's regard, Bingley has the firmest reliance, and of his judgment the highest opinion, and so when Darcy suspected that Jane did not love Bingley as fervently as Bingley loved her, and found that her family had all vulgar manners and shallow tastes, he ‘readily engaged in the office of pointing out to him the certain evils of such a choice'. This was one of the very important reasons of Elizabeth's strong prejudice, and thus it is connected with the main theme. The Wickham-Lydia eprisode and the Collins-Charolette relationship is equally well connected with it. While Elizabeth has developed a prejudice against Darcy, she is strongly attracted towards Wickham— and it is very long before she knows what his real character is. One of the two strong charges she levels against Darcy is the ruining of Wickham's prospects. Darcy reveals the truth to her later, but because of her silence on this point, she cannot stop her sister's elopement and the slander on her family. It is this catastrophe, however, that brings Darcy closest to her because it is his love for her that he finds out the fugitives and makes a successful effort to bring about a marriage between Lydia and Wickham, neglecting the thought of the loss to him. Mr. Collins proposes to her, and later marries her best friend Charolette. All the threads are thus connected. Wickham and Charolette also serve as a comment on Elizabeth and Darcy. â€Å"The Darcy-Elizabeth couple is flanked on one side by the unexceptionable Bingley and Jane, it is flanked on the other by Charolette and Wickham†. The last two have the cleverness of the two main characters, but they are time-servers. The structure is therefore, most cleverly unifying. The precision, simplicity and symmetry of ‘Pride and Prejudice' evoke instinctive appreciation. So well it is constructed that the action proceeds logically from exposition, complication and climax to the denouncement and finally the resolution. The sub-plots are also thematically unified. The theme of love and marriage is exemplified through the plot and the sub-plots. Jane Austen uses the dramatic narrative mode and irony so effectively to build her complex plot that it would not be amiss to say that she â€Å"is the most perfect dramatist who never wrote a play†. Furthermore, all Jane Austen plots are characterized by a unity of tone and are compact and well- knit. There are no loose ands anywhere, no event conceived outside the actual plot and nothing usually hampers the progress of the story. JANE AUSTEN'S COMEDY OF MANNERS  IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE â€Å"The wisest and the best of men-nay, the wisest and best of their actions – may he rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke. â€Å"Certainly†, he replied Elizabeth-â€Å"there are such people, but I hope I am not one of them. I hope I never ridicule that is wiser or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.† This brief dialogue between Darcy and Elizabeth throws distinct light upon Jane Austen's purpose and programme in her novels. For once it be supposed that Miss Bennet's point of view is but a projection of her creator's. Her intention in these novels is to present a comedy of manners – to present the follies and vices of men and to expose them to general ridicule by employing the devices of comedy, parody, burlesque, irony, wit, satire, each one of them as is suitable for the occasion and need. THE UNITY OF TONE Hence, her plots are characterized by a singular unity of tone and she often achieves it by focusing our attention at it from more than one angle. In Pride and Prejudice alone the unity of plot has been achieved from as many as three angles. We can view the novel first, as Elizabeth Bennet sees everything; secondly, by assigning to Elizabeth and Darcy a prominent place into the novel and by centering the higher and nobler comedy around these two figures; and thirdly by making the whole story a study in Pride— pride of place and responsibility in some, pride in the form of social snobbery in others and also either a perverted pride or the lack of pride in the rest. However, the unity is therefore very essential in imparting coherence and shape to her design. Thus, the structure of Jane Austen's novel is perfect and is ideally suited for the material she wanted to embody and the outlook she wished to present.

The United States of Europe Essay Example

The United States of Europe Essay Example The United States of Europe Essay The United States of Europe Essay Jacob Hawkins The United States of Europe Chapter 9 Appraise one concept (benefit, challenge, or either) relating to each of the following: Political: * A problem that EU runs into when they try to become the United States of Europe is also a problem the United States of America had when they came together to build the constitution. It is how to allocate the power in the EU throughout 25 big and small member states when writing the constitution. Economic: Something that helps them is the elimination of trade barriers, and the advent of the euro which has been the world’s strongest currency for much of its life makes the EU a financial and commercial superpower. Social: * The U. S. A. is giving people less privacy because of the attacks on 9/11/2001 while the EU is creating more laws about not being able to give out personal information. So, the U. S. A. demands the information and the EU says it’s illegal to give that information. Technological: Throughout the world, i t used to be that if you made a product to meet the U. S. A standards that you could pretty well sell it all over the world. Now, international companies have to follow Brussels’ regulations because they are tougher than the regulations that the U. S. A. abides by. Certain chemicals can be used in the U. S. A. when those same chemicals are banned from being used for certain products in Brussels. In order to sell to Brussels you obviously have to follow their regulations.